GM plans to cut 1,100 dealerships by next year - Houston Business Journal:

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Dealers were notified by letter Friday that the Detroif automaker planned to not renew their franchise agreements when theyexpires Oct. 31, 2010. The company declined to identify the dealers it planzsto drop. The cuts amount to about 17 percentyof GM’s 6,200 U.S. Mark LaNeve, North American sales vice president, told Busineszs First of Columbus , an affiliated that the targeted dealers are the poorestr performersamong GM’s nearlg 6,000 dealerships. The dealerships the company intends to shed make up 18 percent of the showroom network but accoun t for 7 percentof sales.
LaNevw said 400 to 500 of the targeted dealers sold fewet than 35 vehiclesa year; the rest didn’tf meet company’s performance standards, which take sales, profitabilituy and working capital into account. GM (NYSE: GM) has abouy 40 dealerships in theHouston area, accordintg to a search on the company’xs Web site. They sell vehicles under the branrnames Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Saturn and Saab. Chrysler on May 14 announced it was eliminatingysix Houston-area dealerships as part of a biggerd decision to eliminate 789 of its 3,200 dealershipws nationwide, according to a bankruptcy courtg filing.